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It's a story of two astronauts (a man and a woman) travelling in a starship to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the earth which is around 4-6 light years away. The journey takes several decades. The novel focuses on scientific problems and human relationships. While generating oxygen and food on the starship are the technical problems, the other issues are giving birth to children there and nurturing them.

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Early life

Bhyrappa was born in a Hoysala Karnataka Brahmin family at Santeshivara, a remote village in Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district, about 200 km from Bangalore. He lost his mother to Bubonic plague early in childhood and took on odd jobs to pay for his education. His childhood influences include the Kannada literature Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar; Bhyrappa briefly participated in the Indian freedom struggle when he was aged 13.Bhyrappa completed his primary education in Channarayapatna taluk before moving to Mysore where he completed the rest of his education. His autobiography, Bhitti (Wall) records a break in his high school education. Bhyrappa impulsively quit school, following his cousin's advice and wandered for a year with him. His sojourn led him to Mumbai, where he worked as a railway porter. In Mumbai he met a group of sadhus and joined them to seek spiritual solace. He wandered with them for a few months before returning to Mysore to resume his education.

S L Bhyrappa was a lecturer of Philosophy at Sri Kadasiddheshwar college, Hubli, Sardar Patel University of Gujarat, NCERT Delhi, and the Regional College of Education, Mysore from where he retired in 1991.Bhyrappa has two sons, and lives with his wife in Mysore.

Works

Bhyrappa has produced several popular novels. Some of his early novels were also critically acclaimed. Starting with Dharmashree, first published in 1961, Bhyrappa has authored twenty novels in a career spanning four decades. His major novels have generated public discussions and debates.Vamshavruksha, Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane, Matadana and Nayi Neralu have been made into films and have bagged major awards. Vamshavruksha has received Kannada Sahitya Academy Award in 1966 and Daatu (Crossing Over) has received both Kannada and Kendra Sahitya Academy awards in 1975. Parva has been the most discussed and applauded among all of his novels. It narrates the social structure, values and the mystery of mortality in the epoch of Mahabharata very effectively. Bhyrappa reconstructed Mahabharatha from sociological and anthropological angle, through metaphors in this novel.In addition to novels, Bhyrappa has written tomes pertaining to literature and philosophy such as ' Satya mattu saundarya ' ( Truth and beauty ), Sahitya mattu prateeka, Kate mattu katavastu and Naneke bareyuttene?.

Popularity

Bhyrappas novels have been translated into most Indian languages and English.[2] Bhyrappa has been the top selling author in Kannada for past 25 years and past 8 years in Marathi. He has also been among the top five best selling authors in Hindi.[4]Most of his novels have been reprinted several times. His latest novels Aavarana & Kavalu was sold out even before its release. The novel went on to create a record in Indian literary world by witnessing 10 reprints within five months of its release.All his novels are published by Saahitya Bhandaara located in "Balepet" Bangalore

Controversies

Bhyrappa was the center of controversies in certain quarters because of his selection of themes and also because of his stands.[1] Most of Bhyrappa's prominent novels (Vamshavruksha, Tabbaliyu Neenaade Magane, Parva, and Saartha) have strong roots in ancient Indian philosophical tradition, a fact which invited severe criticism initially from the Navya writers and from others later.Bhyrappa supported N. R. Narayana Murthy when the latter was criticized by media and public regarding the controversy concerning playing instrumental version of national anthem.